First ear prick and Portia bruised

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portiarita

Member Since 2013
Hi all,
I got the alpha trak in today and while it requires a really small amount of blood, its insanely expensive (as many of you have already pointed out). But seriously, so expensive. At any rate, I took Portia to the vet to see how to do a ear prick and vet tech showed me how to do it. Unlike the many instructional videos posted on FDMB, the vet tech poked the inside of her ear (less hairy) somewhere in the middle. She also seemed to form a big red spot around the prick site within a minute of being pricked. I was wondering if any of you had any input on which is less painful (marginal ear pokes or central poke on the inner side) and whether this bruising is expected and normal.I have to measure her BG every two hours for 12 hours tomorrow and if anyone has any tips on how to make this easier, please let me know.

Also, her BG at the vet was 328 :( She wasnt fasted and had eaten about 2 hours prior being taken.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts

Thanks
Rita and Portia
 
Rita,
Some bruising is normal. Rubbing neosporin w/ pain relief on the spot helps it to heal and not hurt. I'd never heard of poking the middle of the ear. Many people with long-haired kitties or black-eared kitties have said they find it easier on the inside surface (less hair and lighter color), but usually along the edge. I think there's more capillaries along the edge?

Did they free hand the lancet, or use the lancing device? I always felt the free hand method was easier and seemed more "gentle". Bob's ears didn't bruise too badly, and the more often he got tested, the easier it was to get blood. Like the ears "learn to bleed better" over time.
 
My cat is also a newly diagnose diabetic, and yesterday was the first day I was able to get blood samples, so I checked him every 2 hours to see how he was responding to insulin, and his ears are quite red today. I only checked on the inside of his ear (with no hair) and on the outer edge. Today, his ears seem very sensitive, and he's not too happy with any testing. I put polysporin on his ears - so I hope this helps. My cat's ears haven't bruised, so maybe Portia's won't either on the outer edge.

So I would also love any advice on how others handle their kitty's sore ears. I would ideally like to test my cat 2-4 times a day (before I give him insulin, and at his lowest point in the curve - if I'm home) - but is this too many ear pricks? Or do their ears get used to it?

Thanks!
Stephanie
 
It takes a couple of weeks but the bruising and sensitivity does clear up as their ears learn to bleed. Michelangelo has been diagnosed for over a year now and I test him every day, 5-20 times per day, usually only on his right ear (he prefers me testing his right over his left). You can't even tell that he gets tested at all. Just make sure you apply pressure to stem the bleeding and reduce bruising after each poke.

The least sensitive area for cats is in between the Marginal Ear Vein and the edge of the ear. With Mikey, I test the outside of the ear. With Henry who is black, I test the inside usually because it's easier to see and to snag the blood drop from.
 
Hi Carl,
Do you rub the neosporin before poking? If so, does it affect the BG reading and how long before poking do you apply it? Where do you get the neosporin?

Thanks
Rita
 
Hi KPassa,
That's good to know. When you test the inside of the ear, where did you poke? In the middle or outer edge? She has a bit of fur even on the inside around the edge so just curious.
Thanks
Rita
 
My vet asked me to show him (tell him) how I test, and he took a syringe and poked J.D. right in the middle of his ear :sad:
J.D. has black ears on the outside and white with a lot less hair on the inside, so we test on the insides of the ears (and switch ears every 5 to 7 days) on the edge of the ear. The ears do need to "learn"? to bleed. I even notice this when I've been testing on one ear for a while and switch to the other. The new ear takes a while to get a good blood sample from.
Good luck. It will get easier.
 
Thanks Dyana,
Ill try towards the outer rim tomorrow instead of bang in the middle. Poor Portia. Her ear looks so bruised around the poke site. She doesnt seem to mind when I touch it though so I guess that means its not hurting as bad as it looks. She's such a good girl.
Rita
 
The ears learn to bleed. Actually, they form more capillaries, called angiogenesis.

The Neosporin with pain relief can be found at most drugstores/pharmacies. Be careful to wipe off any excess so Portia can't wipe it off and get it in her eyes. It will numb the spot. You can dab on a tiny bit before the poke, and it can help the blood drop to bead up a bit better.

Shaving a tiny patch of fur on the ear can be helpful. Wink has long black fur on his ears and black edges to his ears. With my eyesight, it was really hard for me to see the blood against that black fur/black skin so I shaved a tiny patch on his ear in the beginning. It can help when you are first learning to test.
 
Hi Deb,
I have the same problem with Portia's ear. She has black fur along the edges making it hard to collect blood there. This morning I did my first ear poke and it took several attempts to get enough blood. I tried the inner ear towards the middle of the top. Not along the edges because of the fur. She dint flinch at all so Im guessing its not terribly painful.

How would I go about shaving her? With a regular human razor blade?

Rita
 
I used a disposable safety razor, like you would use to shave your legs. Very lightly drew it over the sweet spot at the top and along the edge of Wink's ear to create a bare patch to see better. People with cats with light colored fur don't realize how easy they have it!

Since I've gotten more experienced with the pokes, I don't need to shave his ears any more. But I still do need really bright light to help me pick up that blood drop hiding in the dark fur! :o His avatar there might not show it well, but the fur on his ears is long!

I don't have a microwave, so I rub Wink's ears really well for a few minutes, until they feel warmer to the touch. That get's the blood flowing too. I'm fortunate, that since Wink is currently OTJ, I'm only testing once a week. With the colder weather now, my hands will probably chill Wink's ears instead of warming them up. ohmygod_smile

Not sure if anyone has pointed you to this document, on ear testing tips so I've included it again.

Use every trick in the book when you are first starting out and learning to get that blood drop. That's my philosophy.
 
Thanks Deb. I did read this article on the FDMB webpage. I just did the second prick and got enough blood on the first try. Portia's been so patient with me. She doesnt shake her head or anything. Ive been warming up rice in a sock as suggested to warm her ear up. I have to test 5 more times today so fingers crossed that it continues to be painless for her and she continues to be a good kitty.

I was reading the alphatrak instruction and it said to clean the ear before drawing blood. I was wondering if you guys do this? The vet tech dint say anything about cleaning the spot and I specifically asked her if I should. Just curious.

Thanks Deb!!
Rita.
 
Clean the ear before drawing blood? No, never did it. I never made any special preparations on the ear, like cleaning it before I did the poke. I suppose, if you have a lot of ear wax inside the ear it could spread to the upper inside edge of the ear, but that is quite unlikely. Even my most prodigious ear wax producer, Monet, usually only has the wax down towards the inner part of his ear.

A thin film of Vaseline or triple antibiotic ointment with pain relief has been used by many of us here to help the blood bead up. Just be sure it isn't a big glob.

You would want the ear to be free of water, so the blood drop is not diluted. If you do decide to wash the ear, dry it really well after and before you poke. I would not clean the ear with anything, personally. Well, maybe if you had a kitty that loved to roll around in the dirt and mud outside and they picked up a bunch of plant debris, then I'd brush it off. :lol:

I do always make sure to wash and dry my hands well before I get out the testing supplies. Any food you may have handled could contaminate the blood sample, especially if you have something sweet and sticky on your hands.

No head shaking is great! You're lucky that Portia is being cooperative. I can't tell you how many times Wink shook his head after the blood drop formed. The bathroom test spot looked like an abattoir and there was clean up of the walls and floors and sink cabinet many a time. ohmygod_smile
 
ok. Great! Portia is an indoor only cat so no rolling around in bushes for her :) Her inner ear is definitely waxy but that maybe from no fur because I dont actually see any ear wax anywhere!Ill be sure to wash my hands and dry them before poking though because I do rub her ears a lot before and after and I dont want anything on my fingers contaminating the blood sample.

Thats funny about Mink. I imagine its extremely frustrating when you finally work up the nerve to poke their ear and get blood and its all for nothing because they shook their heads!!! I really hope she doesnt start doing it now that I've sung her praises:)

Another 1 and 15 minutes till the next poke. Its like I cant do anything because Im so nervous about the next reading!!!

Rita
 
Oh hey, if you want something to take you mind off the next poke, you could update your user control panel, profile tab, edit signature and give us some basic information about Portia. It's nice to see your name, kitty's name age and sex, diagnosis date, insulin used, meter used, food being fed, any other complicating medical issues your cat has. Optional of course, but very useful to us.

Think of it as a quick snapshot for us to look at and it helps us to help you better.

For an example, look at the end of my posts. You see that information at the end of all my posts with the info to let someone help more quickly.
 
Yes, the data is showing up in your signature now. I see that you are using an Alphatrak. Would you please go back in and highlight that part of text, change the font size from normal to large ( drop down list in the middle of the editing tool bar that says Normal). It will look like this.

We want the word Alphatrak to jump out at us. The interpretation of the BG numbers you get is slightly different for a pet specific meter like the Alphatrak than it is for a human meter. We want to know you are using that pet meter when we make our suggestions to you.
 
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